contain a tank disaster if im not home or prevention

[glarior]

I installed a 120g drilled tank with dual overflows this past week. Well tonight I just could not sleep so I was up watching TV and then all I hear is something hit the floor and water. I jumped up, pulled the power cords and assessed the situation. Well, one of the overflow boxes return to sump hose came off. I fixed the problem but now all the what ifs are going through my mind and every noise has me jumpy.

Is there anything I can do to contain a disaster if it happens when I'm gone? I have dual Rio 3500 pumps and it would have drained the sump in a minute putting that water on the floor. Plus once the sump went low my auto refill would have kicked in too. Then once that water goes on the floor I would burn up 4 pumps!

Ideas to prevent all that from happening? Prevent pump and auto refill if it did happen?

Good way to soak up the water?

What else can I do if something like that happen while I was gone? Temporary prevention? Auto shut off if water detected?
Thanks

[Pamela2Heaven]

I don't have any suggestions for you - just wanted to say thank goodness you were up and able to jump into action so quickly!!

[Cliff]

When you say your tank is drilled, are you referring the the drain line, the return line, or both? Also, what type of overflow box are you using ?

In both of my reef tanks with a sump, the tanks are drilled for return and drain lines both. I left enough room in the sump to handle the extra water that would drain back in the event of a power failure.

When the power goes out, the return pump will stop and the sump will fill up. When the power returns, the pump turns back on and everything returns to normal

We get many short power failures where I live and no water on the floor yet

[glarior]

By drilled I mean I have 4 holes where the each overflow box is. 2 are returns to the sump and two are return to the tank.

Power outage is not a problem because the sump can handle more than what will flow back into the sump.
Is there a such thing as a system shut off if it detects water on floor?

[Lady Hobbs]

None of us know when our tank may spring a leak or a filter hose split. All we can do is hope (a lot) and keep our maintenance up to snuff. And keep a wet vac around.

[Fishkeeper]

I think there are alarms that go off if they get wet, you could put them around the tank.

[Northernguy]

Install the whole set up in a larger tank,lol It will be capable of containing a massive leak.Unless of course that tank springs a leak.Not doable? lol

The best thing you can do is make sure all your seams are in good condition.If you feel the silicone in the corners is letting loose at the edges then empty it out and reseal it.Its not hard just a little time consuming.
You have to have trust in your stuff!lol

I have had leaks before and it sucks!:spam:

Kudos to Lady Hobbs! No aquarium owner should ever be without a shop vac.

[wskynajar]

For the hoses do they make a big check-valve? like they have on aquarium air-pumps that would work. Other than that I dunno.

[icefreeze57]

I got this one guys dont worry!

Here what you do,

1) Go to other side of house
2) Start Planning New Tank! More Tanks always works! thumbs2:

You'll now have more on your mind, between setting up new tank, playing with this tank and any others, and maintenance on all of them!

You will longer have time to worry about this tank failing... cause remember YOU CAN DO IT

Yeah, I know guys, don't beat your selves up for not thinking of this :hammer2:

Your welcome :22:

PS: :worthless: and you should be showing us your awesome new tank!

PSS I had more smilies but it wouldn't let me use them all :(

[glarior]

I got this one guys dont worry!

Here what you do,

1) Go to other side of house
2) Start Planning New Tank! More Tanks always works! thumbs2:

You'll now have more on your mind, between setting up new tank, playing with this tank and any others, and maintenance on all of them!




Install the whole set up in a larger tank,lol It will be capable of containing a massive leak.Unless of course that tank springs a leak.Not doable? lol



Both of those comments made me laugh so hard! Way to funny !!!! :hmm3grin2orange:

Here is a pic of the tank as of Sunday night. Still have to re-do the lights and going to re-arrange some more of the rocks/corals. The picture is not the greatest because the lights in the room are dull.

The other one is from a week ago after we put the first coat of sealer on the stand. The doors are not in that picture because I have yet to put them on lol.

http://www.horsepowermafia.com/images/web/aquarium.jpg
http://www.horsepowermafia.com/images/web/aquarium2.jpg

[wskynajar]

Never thought of that. Just water seal everything in the room. :22:

[glarior]

Never thought of that. Just water seal everything in the room. :22:

Yep! I thought about that after the spill since all of the water ran off the stand but the floor soaked it up. I think next time I will seal the floor or go with tile/concrete.... with a floor drain haha

[wskynajar]

I was J/K...But it would be nice an handy to have it set-up that way.thumbs2:

[MuckyFish]

Sounds like you need some kind of float switch to stop the return pump.
Also you should check your home insurance policy. A little bit of water can do a lot of damage and I have seen much less water than a 55g tank holds wreck things.

[genocidex]

well there are loads of things that can be done to detect tank or sump water levels. i found a circuit i made for 15$ that i installed in a pond last summer. he had issues with his pump falling over and emptying the pond. the circuit shut off the pump after a certain water level.

[glarior]

That is a good idea for the pump switch. I will have to look around and see what I can find.

[StandsOnToes]

not sure if this is what you were thinking, but this site offers a few ways to detect your water level... a few of the kits will shut down pupmps if things get too full or too low... looks a little expensive for somethign that could be solved by more complicated plumbing but they do look cool in a geeky gadgety way lol

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_searchItem.aspx?SearchText=water%20level%20alar m&parsed=1